Microsoft trousers yet more royalties from Android gear

Microsoft has inked a deal with Compal Electronics, which pumps out gadgets that run Android and Chrome OS, for an undisclosed sum.

Redmond said the agreement covered Compal's tablets, mobile phones, e-readers and other devices that run the Linux-based operating systems designed by Google.

Under the deal, Microsoft will receive royalties from Compal.

“We are pleased to have reached this agreement with Compal, one of the leaders in the original design manufacturing, or ODM [original design manufacturer], industry," said Microsoft's corporate veep and deputy general counsel Horacio Gutierrez.

"Together with the license agreements signed in the past few months with Wistron and Quanta Computer, today’s agreement with Compal means more than half of the world’s ODM industry for Android and Chrome devices is now under license to Microsoft’s patent portfolio.”

He added: “We are proud of the continued success of our licensing program in resolving IP issues surrounding Android and Chrome.”

Currently, Microsoft is tip-toeing between patent deals and lawsuits in its effort to hoover up what the firm considers to be serious intellectual property infringements.

Firms holding off signing a non-disclosure agreement with MS include Android device makers and sellers Motorola Mobility and Barnes & Noble, who disagree with the terms set by Microsoft.

It's been nearly five years since Microsoft complained that open-source software violated exactly 235 entries in the company's vast patent portfolio.

Since then it has been pursuing rivals in the OS business who develop systems based on open-source tech with either IP licensing deals or ugly lawsuits. ®